It Dulls the Pain
by The Red Star
Summary: Naruto is the Assistant Captain of the 10th division when Mayuri makes his daughter. He notices how Mayuri treats her, and comforts her. He decides to show Mayuri that he should treat his family with respect, not abuse. AU


**This one shot is my first ever story. I hope you enjoy it.**

Naruto sighs for the umpteenth time today. _It's so… familiar…._

Naruto had died when he was 8. He was the victim of one of the almost daily "Hunt the Kyuubi" attacks, only this one was more violent than the others were. They beat him mercilessly, that was normal. It didn't even bother him anymore. _Pain _he could take. This time they _all_ brought weapons. Sometimes some of them had weapons, but never all of them. They all ran after him, saying the usual, 'Get the demon brat' and 'let's finish what the Yondaime started'.

They were obviously drunk, but Naruto was only 8, so they had quite the advantage. They cornered him, and attacked. After what seemed like an eternity, they relented. When Naruto thought they were gone, he started to get back up. The Kyuubi had given Naruto an enhanced healing factor that kept almost anything short of decapitation from killing him. A gift, and a curse. When he finally managed to get to his knees, he noticed someone was still there, and he had a Katana in his hands, and piercing crimson red eyes.

"Time to kill you, Kyuubi Brat" Said the Uchiha, as his eyes revealed.

"What have I ever done to you, or anyone for that matter, to make me deserve that title?" asked Naruto, as he had been called that more than once, and did not know why.

"Since I'm just going to kill you, I might as well tell you. 8 years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked, the Yondaime Hokage realized that he couldn't defeat him. So he decided to seal it into a human child. That child was you! You are the Kyuubi reborn!" he didn't even give Naruto time to process before he decapitated the Jinchuriki. Unlike all the other attempts at his life, this one succeeded. One thing the Uchiha didn't count on, though, was the immense amount of demonic energy pouring out of Naruto's body. Once the energy stopped coming out of his body, it coalesced into a giant fox. The fox immediately roared, and shouted "THIS IS HIS REVENGE. DIE, VILLAGE OF KONOHA!"

The Konoha village no longer existed. But that wasn't why Naruto sighed. It was _them_ again. Mayuri and Nemu Kurotsuchi. Mayuri was berating and beating Nemu for not doing something that wasn't possible for her. Naruto couldn't stand Mayuri. But he was only the assistant captain of squad 10, he couldn't berate Mayuri or stop him. After a few minutes more, Mayuri stopped yelling and hitting her and walked away. As soon as he left, Naruto ran over to Nemu.

"Nemu-chan! Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Naruto-san. I'm fine" she replied, trying to get up, and failing miserably.

"Don't try to stand. Let me help you"

"It's fine. I don't nee-eep!" at that moment, Naruto had picked her up and was now carrying her bridal style to squad 4.

"Let's get you fixed up, all right?" Said Naruto, smiling at her.

Noticing Naruto wasn't going to let her argue, she just nodded.

Naruto walked into the squad 4 medical facility, and looked around until he found the squad's captain, Retsu Unohana.

"Hey, Kaa-chan!" Shouted Naruto. Unohana turned around and, seeing her "son", smiled.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. What's wrong with Nemu-san?" Unohana asked. Upon Naruto's arrival in the soul society, he had been found by Unohana. She raised him and trained him to be a Soul Reaper. She loved him like a mother would her child, thus he was her "son" and she was his "Kaa-chan".

"Mayuri" Naruto said, dropping his smile.

Unohana nodded. "Let's get her looked at." and she led them inside an examination room.

Naruto laid Nemu on the table. "Naruto-kun, I'll need to do a full body examination to find all the injuries, So please leave the room."

Naruto blushed at the thought, nodded and walked out of the room. He sat down on one of the chairs outside the room and waited. After about ten or so minutes, Unohana walked out of the room. "Her wounds are worse than the last time this happened. We need to do something or he might kill her." said Unohana.

"I know, Kaa-chan! But what can we do? Mayuri is a _captain_. I can't do anything until I reach captain rank. You have to do something, Kaa-chan!" replied Naruto. He always hated seeing people get hurt, but it was even worse when it was Nemu who was getting hurt. He didn't know why, though.

"I know, Naruto-kun. I'll think of something. Isane's currently wrapping her wounds. When Isane comes out, you can go in." Naruto nodded as she walked away, thinking about how to stop Mayuri. After about 5 more minutes, Isane came out and said he could go in. When she left, he walked in. He saw Nemu sitting on the table, hands in her lap, head down.

"Nemu-chan?" She looked up, tears in her eyes. She immediately looked back down.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying? Are you still hurt?" Asked Naruto.

"I- I'm fine, Naruto-san." Nemu replied, still not looking at him.

"Then why were you crying?"

"I- It's not important."

"Please tell me, Nemu-chan. You can tell me anything. I'll always be there for you, Nemu-chan"

"Promise?" Naruto grabs one of her hands, making her blush, though he doesn't notice.

"Promise of a lifetime." he says, and smiles at her.

"I don't want to go home. I- I'm scared, Naruto-san." she says, and looks up at him. He sees that her tears are now freely falling.

"You don't have to, Nemu-chan. You could stay here, or you could stay with me." He replies, making her go wide eyed.

"Are you serious, Naruto-kun?" She blushed again for what she called him.

"If you want to, Nemu-chan. I really care about you, and I hate seeing you get hurt, so if- mmph!" whatever he was going was currently knocked out of his head by the fact that Nemu was currently KISSING him! He quickly responded to the kiss, making her slightly surprised. After about 20 seconds, they broke apart, both blushing profusely.

"Wow" Naruto was the first to speak. "Not that I care, but what was that for?" Naruto asked.

"You've always been so kind to me without asking for anything in return, and it made me… fall in love with you" she said, the last part with a blush.

Naruto was shocked. She was in _love_ with him? A beautiful girl like her was in love with _him_? He was too surprised to answer back, so he did the only thing he could think of. He kissed her. This time it was her turn to be surprised. '_Does this mean he loves me back?_' she quickly melted into the kiss and kissed him back passionately. After about a minute, they broke apart, panting.

"So does this mean you like me?" She asked.

"No. It means I love you, Nemu-chan." Said Naruto. He kissed her lightly on the lips again. She smiled. "It also means your staying with me from now on. Alright?"

"Of course, Naruto-kun." said Nemu, her smile refusing to leave her face. They stood up, still holding hands, and begun walking to his house. Naruto lived in the compound of Unohana, as he was her "son", though he got his own section when he became a Soul Reaper. Nemu would stay there.

Soon enough, they arrived at the compound.

"Kaa-chan, I'm home! And I brought Nemu-chan with me!" shouted Naruto, only to find Unohana in the next room.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. Nemu-san, you're looking better." she said with a smile.

"I'm feeling better, thanks to Naruto-kun." Nemu replied, smiling.

"Naruto-kun? You told her?" Unohana asked.

"Well, yeah, but she told me first." Naruto replied, sheepishly scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed grin on his face.

"Ah, I see. So I take it she'll be staying in your room?"

Naruto and Nemu blushed. "Kaa-chan!/ Unohana-taicho!" they said at the same time.

"Come now, Nemu-chan, you can call me Kaa-chan too now." Unohana said, still smiling.

Nemu's face could light up the soul society with how brightly she was blushing.

Unohana decided to take it easy on her. "You can stay in the guest room, if you want. Though, I DO want grandchildren…. "

It was Naruto's turn to blush. "Kaa-chan!"

"Relax, Naruto-kun. I DO want grandchildren, but I'm willing to wait. Now show your girlfriend to her room." Unohana said.

"Come on, Nemu-chan." Naruto said, grabbing her hand and leading her out of her room.

_They look so cute together, _Unohana thought, then continued on with what she was doing.

As they were walking to the room, they both kept staring at one another, thinking about their new relationship.

Eventually, they reached the room. "Well, here we are, Nemu-chan. If you need anything, I'm just down the hall." He said and started to walk away.

"Naruto-kun" He turned, only to be kissed lightly on the lips. Before he could deepen the kiss, she pulled away. "Thank you for letting me stay here." she said with a smile.

"Hey, you're my girlfriend, I'm supposed to keep you safe, aren't I?" He replied, grinning widely.

She giggles. "Goodnight, Naruto-kun"

"Goodnight, Nemu-chan"

Naruto got to sleep fairly quickly, dreaming of himself and Nemu doing… _things._

Nemu, however, did not sleep as well. She kept thinking of what Mayuri would do if he found out about them. She was very afraid, both for herself and Naruto.

The next morning, Naruto was in the kitchen, making himself breakfast. Unohana had already left for her division, thinking over how to deal with Mayuri. As Naruto was cooking, Nemu walked in. Naruto saw her.

"Morning, beautiful."

"Good morning" She replied, blushing at what he called her.

"I just made breakfast. Care to join me?"

She nodded, and they sat down and ate together. They didn't talk much during the meal.

After the meal and the cleanup, they were both dressed and ready to go about their daily duties. Naruto, however, was hesitant to let her go back to 12th division, back to Mayuri.

"Naruto-kun, I'll be fine. Besides, if I'm gone for too long, he'll think that I've run off."

"I hate seeing you get hurt, Nemu-chan. What if it gets worse than last time? I won't be there in time. I'm not going to let you just go there and get hurt. You and I both know that he'll hurt you." Naruto was genuinely scared. He knew what abuse felt like. He didn't want what happened to him to happen to her. He wouldn't let it.

"I know, but I can't stop it, and right now, neither can you. All we can do is wait until you get strong enough to stop him. I'll just have to endure it until then"

Naruto holds her close to him. "I promise you, Nemu-chan, I will protect you. I'll find a way to stop him. I love you, Nemu-chan."

"I love you too, Naruto-kun." They kiss each other lightly on the lips, then head out to do their jobs.

12th division barracks

"Assistant Captain of 12th division, Nemu Kurotsuchi, Reporting in…" Nemu stated, already knowing what her captain's reaction would be.

"WHERE WERE YOU?" he shouted.

"Mayuri-sama, I was-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES!" he shouted, backhanding her.

He was about to do more, but before he could, he heard, "That's enough, Mayuri."

He turned and saw Jushiro Ukitake , Retsu Unohana , Shunsui Kyoraku, Naruto, and Yamamoto himself.

"I have heard what Naruto had to say and saw what you just did. I am not happy, Mayuri." Yamamoto said calmly.

"Naruto told us how it was getting worse. We've come to stop you." said Ukitake.

"You people have no say in how a father treats his daughter!" Mayuri shouted.

"No we don't. We do, however, have say in how a captain treats his assistant. You have been issuing punishments to her without her doing anything wrong. That is wrong and it is going to stop. Mayuri, From this point forth, you are no longer Captain of 12th division. Furthermore, you are no longer a Shinigami. You are to be stripped of all of your weapons, including the ones in your body, and thrown back into your old cell. Ukitake, Kyoraku, If you will…" Yamamoto stated, his glare never leaving Mayuri.

Ukitake and Kyoraku walked forward. "NO! You can't do this! I'm the captain of 12th division!"

"Not anymore. Or were you not listening to the old man?" asked Kyoraku.

"Give up Mayuri. There's no way out of this. Just give us your Zanpakuto." Said Ukitake, his face showing no emotion.

Naruto, meanwhile, had already grabbed Nemu and brought her over to Unohana to make sure she was alright.

"I'm alright, Naruto-kun, really, I'm fine." Nemu said while Naruto was checking her for injuries.

"Alright. I'm just glad that your safe." Naruto said, hugging her.

"Naruto-kun, take Nemu and get her to our house"

"Hai, Kaa-chan." Naruto grabbed Nemu and Shunpo-ed to the compound.

"Here we are, home sweet home." Naruto said, leading her inside.

"Yeah, home sweet home…" Nemu said, looking around.

"Nemu-chan, Mayuri is gonna be in jail for the rest of his existence. If you want, you could move in here, with me…" Naruto said, mumbling the last part. Nemu heard it, however.

"With you? What does that mean?" She asked, wondering what he meant.

"Well, Mayuri will be in jail. That means that you aren't gonna have a place to stay. Also, I'd really like it if you were closer to me." He replied, saying the last part with a blush on his face.

Nemu kissed him. "So which room is mine?"

"You could have the guest bedroom I guess."

"Or we could share your room."

"What?" Naruto asked

"I'm kidding, Naruto-kun. I don't want us to move too fast. At least not yet." She said

"Oh." he replied, relieved that she wanted to take things slow.

"Though, I can't account for the future…" She said, smiling.

Naruto smiled back, then just started laughing. Nemu soon joined him in the laughter. After a while, they stopped.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. For everything." Nemu said, kissing him lightly.

"Anything for you, Nemu. Anything…" He replied, kissing her back.

-Time skip- 10 years

Naruto Uzumaki, Captain of 10th division, was making his way to 12th division. Why? To see his girlfriend. In the past 10 years, he and Nemu had become remarkably close. Over the years, they had told each other everything about themselves, Naruto even told her about his past in Konoha. When he told her, she immediately kissed him passionately, said 'I love you' and that was the first time they made love. They had done it many times since then, each time better than the last, as far as Naruto was concerned.

Nemu was still the Assistant Captain of 12th division. Naruto couldn't be bothered to remember the new Captain's name, though. He was more focused on what he was about to do.

Once he was in the 12th division building, he didn't have to look for Nemu. She was in the research lab. Apparently, she loved research, and was as gifted at it as Mayuri was, though she never took it as far as he did. As soon as she saw him, she immediately stopped what she was doing and ran to him. She jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

"Hi, Naruto-koi."

"Hey, Hime. How's work?" he asked. She let go of him and stood up. She removed her arms from his neck and moved them to his chest.

"It's going well. I've improved on quite a few of Mayuri's inventions." She said, her eyes never leaving his face.

"Well, that's good. Hey, do you think your captain would mind if I stole you from work early?"

"Go ahead!" a male voice said out of nowhere.

"Thank you Capt-AHH!" was all she got out before Naruto grabbed her bridal style and bolted out of the building.

Naruto took her to the tea shop in soul society.

"Is there a reason you just kidnapped me from work?" Nemu asked, oddly drinking her tea calmly.

"Well, yeah."

"Why then?"

"Okay, Nemu," She looked at him, "I have something to tell you."

Nemu looked confused. "What is it, Naruto-koi?"

"Well, where do I begin? From the moment we first met, no, the first time I saw you, I felt like something was bound to happen between us. At the time, I never would have thought that it would be this. Not that I'm complaining," he said, chuckling, "But when you finally told me how you felt, I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe that someone as wonderful as you could like someone like me. You accepted me for who I am, comforted me when I told you about my past. Being with you… it dulls the pain. Makes it go away. You've made my life complete. Now let me return the favor. Nemu Kurotsuchi, will you marry me?"

Not a second after he asked her, she melded her lips to his, actually knocking him off his chair. After about a minute, they broke for air. "So is that a yes?"

"Yes! Yes! Of course I'll marry you!" she practically shouted. They kiss again. Naruto stands them up, not breaking the lip lock. After another minute, they break.

"I love you, Nemu-hime."

"I love you too, Naruto-koi"

-Time skip- 20 years

Naruto Uzumaki was on his way home from work. He didn't know whether to be happy that he's finally away from the monster known as paperwork or scared that he'd have to face his pregnant wife when he got home. Her mood swings were SCARY.

"Nemu-chan, I'm back."

"Welcome home, Naruto-kun. Arashi missed you." said his beautiful wife, who was currently 7 months pregnant with their 3rd child. As soon as she said that, a yellow blur dashed past her and tackled him to the ground. "TOU-SAN!"

"Hey, Arashi. Did you behave for your mom?"

"Yup! I even helped her out!" He said, grinning ear to ear. Arashi essentially was a chibi Naruto. He looked exactly like him, he even acted like he did when he was younger.

"oh, and Mitsuru stopped by today." Nemu said.

"Really? What'd she want?"

"She said she just wanted to check up on me, make sure that I'm alright, that I haven't killed you yet. Though I don't know why she said that last part, do you?" she replied, her face getting the patented 'Say anything and I kill you' look all wives have.

"Uh, no," Naruto sweat dropped, "So, how is Mitsuru?" Mitsuru was their first child. She was a clone of her mother, much like how Arashi was a clone of his father.

"She's doing fine, she said that she's having fun at the academy with her friends. She did say that she missed us and Arashi-chan."

"She could always visit more. Preferably when I'm home."

"Yeah! I miss onee-chan." Arashi said.

"She's busy with the final exam. She needs to be ready for it. You know that, Naruto-koi."

"Yeah, I know. Hey, which division do you think she'll be placed in?"

"It won't be one of ours."

"Yeah. Let's hope it's a good one."

"Too-san, when are you going to start my training?" Arashi interjected.

"When you're not a squirt." Naruto replied, messing up Arashi's hair. Nemu giggled.

"Hey! I'm not a squirt!" Arashi shouted to his father, frown on his face.

"Yes you are, I won't train you until you get bigger. You'll benefit more from it that way." Naruto said.

"Okay…"

"Now that that's settled, who's hungry?" Nemu asked.

"ME!" Naruto and Arashi both yelled.

"Alright, dinner's in the dining room. Naruto-kun, help me up please."

"I got you." Naruto helped Nemu into the dining room and helped her sit down.

As they were eating, Naruto heard about what Nemu had done while he was away. She was on maternity leave, so she had to find was to pass the time. Watching Arashi run around had apparently been entertaining for her. Arashi had been telling him about all the stuff he had been doing to help Nemu, surprisingly enough, Nemu said he actually was a huge help. After dinner, Naruto told them about his day.

"When I get older, I'm gonna take your spot, tou-san." Arashi said as Naruto tucked him in.

"I'm sure you will, squirt. But until then, get some sleep."

"Hai, tou-san."

Naruto walked back into his and Nemu's bedroom to see Nemu in her nightgown, lying under the covers.

"He finally asleep?" She asked.

"Yeah. Must've tired himself out during the day." He stripped to his boxers and climbed into bed next to her. "How you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Just tired. Arashi can be a handful on his own, coupled with the pregnancy…"

"Do you want me to stay home so I can help you?" She turned around so that she was facing him.

"No. 10th division needs you. I can manage until the baby's born."

"Alright, but if something's wrong or if you need something, please come find me or kaa-chan, okay?" Naruto said.

"Alright," she smiles at him. "Good night, Naruto-kun. I love you."

"I love you, too, Nemu-chan." He kissed her lightly. "Good night" She turned back around and leaned back into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

They had started out in pain, alone. Then they found each other and dulled each other's pains. They had a family. They had each other. Their lives were complete.

**And done! This was remarkably easy to write. It only took two days!**

**Please review. Constructive criticism will be welcome. Flames will be ignored, so don't bother with them.**

**Forever in the sky,**

**The Red Star**


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